And Baby Makes Four…

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I can’t believe that it’s been 7 weeks since my last post…well obviously A LOT has happened, first and foremost we did it, we had a baby girl – a bouncing, cuddly, beautiful baby girl, but before that we had the last week of my pregnancy with her, a slow start to labor and delivery, a battle of name the baby, and a sobbing last night of putting Tucker to bed as an only child. Let’s back this train up from where the last post left off…

Eric and I went into Liz’s office for my 39 week check up thinking that FOR SURE that the baby had made some progress…no none, well Liz said that she was in a good mood and she’d say that I had thinned out about 5% more. Whoopdee doo daa. I basically have been 1 cm and 50-55% effaced for a month, a month! I sat there, pantless, thinking that she’s gonna make me do this myself, and she’s never gonna talk induction with us. Low and behold, she asked what we thought about induction, and we again scheduled induction on her due date, October 15.

The week came and went and LeAnne made me “Happy Last Day of Work” cupcakes (my favorite funfetti) and had a great last day tying up loose ends, doing a maternity leave mailbox message, and putting in the out of office assistant on. The day flew by and I went home for the last Friday night as a family of three. And as fast as the last day of work flew by, so did the last weekend, we went to my parents house for dinner on Sunday night and I snuggled with Tucker, and didn’t want to leave. I laid him down in his bed at my mom and dad’s and cried, hard – scared of what was coming, not delivery but beyond. Would there be enough of me for Tucker to know that I still love him as much Sunday as I will on Monday when there is a new baby to care for too? It’s really the first time I gave into these feelings and it felt good to let them out. Eric and I got home, put the finishing touches on our hospital bag, carseat, and stuff that we wanted footprints on, packed them in the car and I slept like a baby.

5 AM came early, oh wait that IS early. And I got up, showered, dried my hair, and put on my last HUGE maternity clothes and we were out the door by 6 am. Here is picture of me in the morning just before we left. Even Bogey couldn’t believe how big I was!

We checked into the hospital and I was hooked up to an IV and the check in nurse was getting all our vitals and info. Liz came in and checked me and to my surprise, there was still barely ANY more activity. I was 1 cm and 75% effaced, high cervix and not softened. Bummer. But my contractions were less than 3 minutes apart – but I couldn’t feel them. Liz told me that there is a chance that if this doesn’t work, they would have to send me home and come back when real labor began. The though petrified me. She inserted the first dose of Cytotec (yes yes I know it is controversial to use for induction – I did my research but this was the path that Liz and I decided upon) around 7:30 am and I was told to lay down and sit still then I was to pace the hallways and get my labor moving. At 10:30ish I was checked again and was 100% thinned out, 2 cm, softened and forward cervix! Yahoo! I got the second dose of Cytotec and again told to lay down for a while and continue power walking the halls to progress labor. I continued to progress slowly and around 2 pm Liz came in I was 3 cm and she then broke my water…that moved things quickly. I was no longer smiling, talking, or laughing the contractions were coming fast and were painful. The anesthesiologist was paged and he put in the first step of the two step epidural. It was pretty instantanous and life was good again. Here is a picture of me after it took effect…

Eric and I walked a little bit more, and I was told to let Liz and Nylene know when I was feeling pain or pressure again because the second part of the epidural takes about 20 minutes to take effect. We got about 3 laps in before I told Eric that I was feeling some pressure, he told me to tell Liz, to which I replied – “I don’t want to be a whiner” Eric’s response – “Ahhh, news flash you’re having a baby you’re not a whiner” He told Liz when we passed her in the hall and she said she’d check me, low and behold I was 9 cm and we were almost ready to push, and I still needed the next part of the epidural. I was given the second epidural and bed ridden, and at 4:14 began pushing, at 4:18 the epidural kicked in, and at 4:20 pm, our baby girl was born. She was a screamer at 8 lbs 15 oz and 21.5″ long. She was placed on my chest and was 1 of the 2 most perfect people in the whole wide world.

We were totally in LOVE with her the instant we met her. Every thought, fear, flutter, worry, doubt, everything went away and God filled my heart with unwavering love for this tiny (okay well tiny compared to her brother) new life that we created! My blessings overflowed, and all was good with the world. She looked just like Tucker – chubby cheeks, little button nose, and had hair – even more than Tucker. Liz and Nylene (her midwife student) fixed me all up down under and the rush of family entered into the room to meet Baby Girl Gitter (that was her name for another 5 hours). Everyone oogled and snuggled her, took pictures and then the nurses checked her vitals again, she was running a temperature of 101, and then dropped to 97.4 they suggested that we do skin to skin for a while to help regulate her temperature, it worked, right from the start she just needed her mommy. Later that night my sister and brother in law came to meet her. We were discussing names, we liked Mollie – Kenzie – Lily – Annabelle – Abilene – Quinn…but NONE of those were her. I thought she looked like a Leah and Eric thought she looked like a Lucy…so finally after a while of discussing we had common ground her name should start with an L. I suggested Leighton – LeAnne and Matt both liked it and our general manager’s at the Sandals Resort we stayed at in January (do the math people 9 months before) was named Leighton (LAY-TON)…we thought it fit, BUT Eric was hesitant. So, not annoying at all, I pointed out every 3 or so minutes that I like Leighton, I like Leighton, I like Leighton. I grabbed the birth certificate form and the three of us all told Eric how much we liked Leighton, when he was on the phone, and he finally caved in and came to the right decision. So our Mollie-Kenzie-Lily-Annabelle-Abilene-Quinn became Leighton Annette. She was a great sleeper that first night, but the nurses kept waking us up to check on me and her and nurse every 2 hours. We had a plethora of visitors that came and went in the 3 days we were in the hospital, we are so blessed with so many family and friends. My friends Mel and Mandy stopped in and gave us some of the coolest gifts…Leighton was all the rage with the wand in her bassinet! I love how the Buschke’s stayed with the yellow sunshine theme!!!

Tucker came up to the hospital…he would not pose for any pictures he was too busy pushing buttons, but did once acknowledge the Baby one time, then he was done. That has pretty much been his approach – likes her when he likes her and doesn’t really care the other times. My mom said that’s nice, I HAD to help with everything when my sister was born and it was hard to keep me away from LeAnne. She’s right, I do have it good. My life is good as a gitter my friends.

I’d like to introduce you to Leighton Annette Gitter, who has us all wrapped around her little fingers. Thank you McManigal Photography for her beautiful pictures!

Dear Leighton,Welcome to our family. We are beyond thrilled to have finally met you. I’ll be the first to admit that I wasn’t quite sure if God really knew what he was doing – could I handle 2 kids under 2, 2 in diapers, still working full time…yes I can – God doesn’t give us more than we can handle. He knew exactly what he was doing when he gave us you. I fell head over heels in love with the second they put you on my chest – even gooey and bloody you were still so beautiful, and I couldn’t wait to start this journey with you, my precious daughter. You came into this family just at the right time, we all needed to see the physical face of God’s grace in you, after Auntie’s diagnosis…just like when I was born after Papa died, you my daughter, show us that life is a brutiful and fragile thing. I know that getting to snuggle you in Auntie’s arms was the blessing that helped to take her mind off of life for just a few minutes…and she didn’t even have to change your diaper – boy life is good! I stare at your little button nose, your full sweet lips, your big slate colored eyes (quickly turning brown like all the rest of ours), and smile knowing that our family is complete with you now. I love you with everything I have, even though I didn’t know if I could love you and your brother both as much as you guys needed – God doesn’t give us a shortage in love. Our new journey is just beginning, you’ll soon learn how good life as a gitter really is Leighton! ❤mom